Being a VIP seems no more to be an exalted position for most Indians. This became apparent when nearly 5,000 'gold' and 'silver' passes were issued to supposedly VVIPs for the Asian Games events.

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.Prabhu Chawla

July 31, 2013

ISSUE DATE: December 15, 1982

UPDATED: September 15, 2014 10:49 IST

Being a Very Important Person (VIP) seems no more to be an exalted position for most Indians. This became apparent when nearly 5,000 'gold' and 'silver' passes were issued to supposedly Very Very Important Persons (VVIPs) for the Asian Games events. Harnek Singh, a 40-year-old motor mechanic from Patiala, Punjab, was one of the WIP's at the LP. Indoor Stadium on November 24.

One of the 7,000 spectators who swarmed the stadium for the women's gymnastics event, Singh was occupying a chair right behind Rajiv Gandhi, mp and Sardar Buta Singh, chairman of the Asian Games Special Organising Committee (AGSOC), with an 'A' class golden pass found his neck, on the invitation of the SOC!

Sathe, Kaul and B.N. Singh: neglected

A middle-level official of the Railway Board, accompanied by his son, was also a privileged visitor with the golden pass. A little above the golden pass enclosures were sitting three businessmen from Delhi's Chandni Chowk and a motor parts dealer of Kashmiri Gate with silver passes strung round their necks.

Ironically, while red carpets were being rolled out by the AGSOC's protocol officials for the golden and silver pass holders, many important dignitaries, including Cabinet ministers and leading sportsmen, instrumental in various ways in getting together the Games, were not only denied entry but also humiliated by those manning the entry gates. Towards the end of the Games there remained little doubt that the golden pass had become a symbol of prestige for its owner.

Rising Numbers: While AGSOC officials remained tight-lipped over the distribution of these passes, according to the original guidelines, those marked 'A' were to be issued to the council members of the Asian Games Federation, executive members of the AGSOC, office-bearers of the National Sports Federation, the Indian Olympic Association and the chairmen of all steering committees of the AGSOC.

The number of officials in this category rose from 100, in June 1980, when preparations started, to over 700 by November this year when Buta Singh added over 50 members, including 20 mp's close to Rajiv Gandhi.

And for the people who were entitled to a golden or a silver pass, there was more in the booty. According to the SOC guidelines, a golden pass holder was entitled to three passes of the same kind for his guests and a silver pass holder one extra.

And with directives to hand over these passes liberally coming from within the SOC, few knew how many had trickled out. Said Shankaran Nair, the SOC secretary-general: "I don't know the exact number of passes issued, because I am not handling them."

Shankaran was probably right, because the Director Protocol, Group Captain Duranni was issuing over a dozen passes every day to various people, while organisations and individuals entitled were left high and dry. While B.C. Mathur, a secretary in the Sports and Supply Ministry was able to secure a golden pass for himself and his family, Shiela Kaul, the chairman of the Cabinet's steering committee on the Asian'Games, was not given the pass at all.

The most glaring example of official neglect was when the Union Works and Housing Minister Bhishma Narain Singh, who is also on the steering committee and whose ministry has done the maximum amount in connection with the Games, was not given a pass till his officials did a fair amount of chasing.

Finally he was given a silver pass on November 21. Although Singh was lucky to manage a pass for himself and his wife, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Vasant Sathe was occupying the Rs 10 ticket enclosures in the Indoor Stadium.

Earlier the SOC protocol department could not deliver invitation cards to, 14 of the 17 ministers for the inauguration ceremony at the J.L. Nehru Stadium on November 14. The protocol department could only muster silver passes for top officials of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Central Public Works Department, New Delhi Municipal Committee and Delhi Police - all of whom were instrumental in the construction of the stadia and arrangements in time for the Asiad.

Says a senior official of the Works and Housing Ministry: "Every riffraff has been given a golden pass by the SOC, and those who sweated it out for making the Asian Games a success are not allowed to take even their car inside the VIP car parking areas."

The SOC protocol department has been issuing golden passes without following any well defined criterion. According to the SOC rules, only foreigners or chief ministers can be given passes for these enclosures after submitting a written request from a sports federation or a state government. And ironically the guests with the golden passes were neither foreigners nor chief ministers, but just the relatives of either SOC officials or leading politicians controlling the Games.

And while the undeserving guests are missing no opportunities to see as many events as possible, the SOC is mum over the chaos. Said Duranni: "I am extremely busy. I will give you the details about the golden passes only after the Games are over." A classic bureaucratic technique to sweep a scandal under the carpet.

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